In need of tuition teacher!

Ok, I don't really need a tuition teacher but tuition is really popular among Malaysian and Singaporean. Just yesterday, while I was at the Woodlands MRT station, someone approached me. Following is our conversation.

She: Hello Sir, do you have time? I am conducting a survey.
Me : Ok, no problem. ( I am always willing to help out)
She: Are you currently studying or working?
Me : Studying.
She: Where are you studying now?
Me : NTU.
She: Oh, now should be exam period right? Are you final year student? ( Do I really look that old?)
Me : I am just first year. I just finished my exam today.
She: What is your source of income, as in where do you get your money from?
Me: My parents. ( Is she doing some research on the financial status of students?)
She: Then, do you have any savings? Do you save any part of the money from your parents?
Me : No, usually it's just enough.
She: Then do you want to do any part time job to earn some extra money, like tuition? ( She revealed her true purpose)
Me : Not now.
She: Ok.

Then she just walk away. What about the survey?

NOTE: I am now back in Kampar, enjoying my holiday. I left Singapore straight after exam. Homesick is incurable!

'Get Real' , 'Be Rational'

Just something I want to share. I have seen this before on someone's desktop and find it really interesting.

'Stuck Piston' Problem

Today, I had just finished my Physic paper. At first, I was very happy cause the paper is quite easy and I can do all the question( not sure correct or not lah ). But after gearing from Joseph, Wai Ming and Tim, the question 4(a) actually is more complicated than I think.

This is a standard thermodynamic question with a piston and cylinder of different cross-sectional area, bigger in the upper part and smaller in the lower part. Then they add a weight on the piston to increase the pressure adiabatically and the question ask for final pressure and temperature. I just calculate the pressure, P1 and then the temprerature T1 using formula. According to them, when pressure increases to P1, the volume V1 is actually smaller than the V of the smaller part. Meaning, the piston actually 'stucked' in the upper part. The V will be the volume of the smaller part. And the pressure, P1 is wrong cause the piston is supported by the wall of the lower part. Then, we have to use the V of lower part to find new P2 and T2.

Summary, for a 6 marks question, first use the extra weight to find P1, V1 and T1. Then, V1 is smaller than V so it is illogical. We had to use the V of lower part as final volume. This make the P1 and T1 wrong. Using the V, we find another P2 and T2 as answer.WTH!

Ok, if you are confused, sorry. Just ranting. :)

Hotel Infinity

I heard about this from Wen Cin a few weeks ago. After reading more about it, I have decided to write a short post about it in my blog. However, I am not good enough in maths to understand this thoroughly so please forgive me for any inaccuracy in my post.

Lets assume there is a hotel of infinitely many rooms and every room is occupied.
Case 1: A new guest comes and requests for accommodation.
Solution: Guest in room 1 shifts to room 2, guest in room 2 shifts to room 3 and so on ( meaning guest staying in room n shifts to room n+1 ). Then the new guest will stay in room 1

Case 2: A bus carrying a countable infinite number of guests arrive at the hotel and all of them request for accommodation.
Solution: Guest in room 1 shifts to room 2, guest in room 2 shifts to room 4 and so on (meaning guest staying in room n shifts to room 2n, leaving all the odd number room empty). Then all the new guests will accommodate the odd number room.

Case 3: A countable infinite number of buses, each carrying a countable infinite number of guests arrive at the hotel and all of them request for accommodation.
Solution: Guest in room 1 shifts to room 2, guest in room 2 shifts to room 4 and so on (meaning guest staying in room n shifts to room 2n, leaving all the odd number room empty). All the passengers from bus 1 will accommodate rooms 3ⁿ for n = 1,2,3 ... The passengers from bus 2 will accommodate rooms 5ⁿ , and so on ( meaning passengers from bus i will accommodate rooms pⁿ where p is the (i+1)-th prime number).

Source: Wikipedia

Responsibility

Today, I went to LDP room to have a 'meeting' with Roy and Siew Ping about the fund-raising activity. We are supposed to draft a letter to be sent to the MAE professors asking for donation. After reaching there, Siew Ping told me that the meeting was actually held yesterday. I quickly called Roy and he told me that he had finished the letter. Ok, this is settled but my mind wont settled down. I began to think about a lot of things. How on earth can I forget about the meeting? Have I no sense of responsibilty? Have I slacked too much that I forgot what I should do?

I still remember my vow long time ago. I had once vowed that I would never run away from my responsibility. Looking back at what I have done in this sem, I realised that I had achieved nothing and did not fulfill my responsibility. I had been a ghost Red Cross First Aid Subcom, never attend any first aid duty. Even though many things are not in my control, I can't help but feel that I had contributed nothing to Red Cross this sem and I feel bad about it. I had been a semi active LDPian, helping out a bit in some occasion but I am not satisfied. I feel that I should have done more. As for MAE Publication Subcom, I am just an ordinary guy who submit his work on time. Nothing bad but nothing spectacular either.

I am not satisfied with myself this semester, and this is just the CCA part, I haven't even talk about the academic part. Nothing can be done now but to remind myself of my mistake and do better in the next sem.

People in NTU

Yes!!! I have finally finished my CAs today. But that also means that my final exam is coming near. In fact, it is just less than 5 days before my final starts. Why am I still writing this? Some may ask. I am still slacking because it is not my style to suddenly become hardworking or studious. I prefer to tale it slow and easy. For example, I revised my Life Science last night. Even though I havent revised the last two chapters, I still went to sleep cause it was already half past twelve and I started feeling sleepy. This is insane, some will say, but this is me.

After coming in NTU, I had met different kinds of people. Some are very disciplined, always studying and revising, but still can sleep early.This type of people are quite rare and most of them can get good results(I think). Some like to slack in the first half and start to work hard in the later hallf of the semester. In some of the extreme cases, they will isolate themselves from the outside world and just engulfed in their studies. In this period, many people also become very sensitive to noise and disturbance. Everyone you see may eventually transform into a violent beast if you disturb their studies. Another strange phenomena is that the usually empty Study Room is now crowded with people who only study at the eleventh hour.

I am not saying all this things are entirely new and strange to me. But coming from a small town where people work and study at relatively lower pace, this is consider to be mind opening. Enough talking(or writing) already, start study!

Blog Hiatus

Haven't update my blog for a month. In this one month, I had been quite busy with all the CAs and ECA. More importantly is that I have nothing to write about. My life in NTU has been so uninteresting that I don't even feel like talking about anything. Anyway, I have spent some time thinking and pondering. Have I changed? Is this the real me? Who is the real me? I use to be a quiet and innocent boy who is very shy. I also had a bad attitude. When I grew up, I become more talkative and more readily to compromise. But I still have the bad attitude and arrogance. I am thinking, am I changing little by little? Is compromising and politeness a sign of maturity or alert of losing my personality? Or being arrogant is just a way to hide my weakness and insecurity? I am still learning and changing. There is still a long way for me to go. To all my friends and families, I cannot promise that I will become a better person who is always polite and kind. But I can swear that I will always be sincere and honest, no matter how I change.